Everything Hurts
by Kitty Miller
Summary: Dick Grayson is suffering alone until Jason Todd decides to be the good guy and help him out. Will Jason be able to fix Dick up or will Dick be in pain forever? lame summary. Dick x Jason
1. Chapter 1

Everything Hurts

By darkbrokenangel21

I stood over the edge of the tallest building in Bludhaven, looming down at the busy city, waiting for her demons to slither out from their dwellings. Her older sister from across the water had the Bat signal shining brightly in the midnight skies, calling forth Gotham's Dark Knight to save her people from her own demons. A panging sensation went through my chest as I recalled the old days with Bruce and all the crime fighting we used to do as partners, making it hard for me to breath as I also remembered our fights.

My comm.'s beeping knocked me out of my thoughts as I touched the responding button and waited to hear my ex fiancé's sweet voice. Barbra informed me that Jason was entering the city limits of Bludhaven with Tim and Damian on his tail. She also told me that Bruce wasn't with them…in fact, Bruce was in Hong Kong, China on a business trip for Wayne Enterprises and won't be back for two weeks. I began to wonder what my "brothers" wanted, seeing how they were heading here for a reason. I soon got my answer as I saw shadows darting around the other buildings.

Jason's sly laugh was the first thing I heard as I watched him land beside me. He didn't have his red helmet on so I could see his shaggy black hair with the white lock curling in front of his red eye-masked eyes. He clapped a firm hand on my shoulder as he pulled me in closer so he could mess up my own shaggy dark locks.

"Haha! I win again, you brats!" Jason proclaimed as I saw Tim and Damian appear behind us, panting like dogs as if they were running for their lives to get here first.

"You were lucky…to get…a head start!" Tim huffed as I unraveled myself from Jason's grip. After fixing my hair, I narrowed my masked eyes at the trio before speaking.

"What do you all want? Can't stand living together without killing each other? You want me to babysit until Daddy Bats comes home?" I sneered as Jason took a step back away from me.

"Whoa, chill out bro! Is your nightstick up your ass or did you not get any sleep?" Jason asked as I pinched the bridge of my nose and sighed.

"Are you ok, Dick? Did we come at a bad time?" Tim cautiously asked while Damian pouted without a word.

"It's complicated and I'm not in the mood for sharing. Do you guys have a problem in Gotham 'cuz I can just go back with you if that's the case?" I said as Jason snorted.

"Is it a crime to pay our dear brother a visit?" Jason poetically wooed as Damian punched his arm.

"Oh shut up, zombie boy! Grayson, my father- ow!- _our_ father wants you to come to Gotham and assist us while we go on patrol. And he wanted to give you this." Damian stated bluntly, only receiving a whack to the head when he upsetted Tim. He pulled out an envelope with my name on it in cursive handwriting. Alfred probably wrote it for Bruce, considering the fact that Bruce addresses me as "Dick", not "Richard John Grayson." I took the envelope, regardless of who wrote it, and tore it open.

'Dear Richard,

Forgive me for not contacting you in months, but it has come to my attention that I can't trust your brothers home alone with Alfred as their only adult guardian. I know how much they care about you and how enthusiastic they would be to know that their eldest brother is taking care of them. Once I return from Hong Kong, you may be on your way if you would prefer or stay at the Manor until you are satisfied. Perhaps we could catch up later and talk about the incident.

Your Loving Father,

Bruce Wayne

P.S. This letter was written by Alfred Pennyworth due to Bruce Wayne's natural laziness.'

After reading the letter silently to myself, I crumbled it up and tossed it over to Jason, who caught it and tried to open it carefully so he could read it too. I began to walk away from my brothers, quietly fuming at how Bruce decided to "kiss and make up" with me by watching his kids. Before I could get my graffling gun out, Tim stepped in front of me, giving me the most pitiful look on his face.

"Dick, where are you going?" Tim asked me as I pushed him out of the way.

"Off to patrol my city. You guys better make sure Gotham is ok." I informed them as Damian huffed.

"Why aren't you coming with us? I thought you would be happy to be back home?" Damian snorted as I took out my gun.

"Sorry kiddo, but I can't always be Daddy's replacement whenever he wants me to. Jason's old enough to take care of you all. I can't just up and go whenever I want to like he can, so sorry, I can't do this." I sighed as I shot the gun out over the neighboring building. I waited until it snagged before disappearing into the darkness and soaring through the air.

I returned to my apartment to find it dark throughout the whole area. Groaning, I went to the fuse box and flipped on a couple of switches until my lights came back on. Exhausted to the brink of unconsciousness, I muttered a few curses and stripped off my Nightwing costume and changed into a t-shirt and boxers for bed. It was a quarter passed five in the morning before I slipped under my blankets and _tried _to fall asleep. Tried is the keyword here because as soon as I closed my eyes, I heard someone picking the lock to my front door.

Quickly, I grabbed a Batarang from under my pillow and slowly made my way out of the bedroom and into the living room. I could hear a man muttering under his breath as he tried to tamper with the tumblers in the door. I silently looked through the peephole to see who my creep was, but soon figured out that it was Jason. I opened the door rather quickly, causing Jason to yelp before falling down into my apartment's hardwood floor. Hurrying to compose himself, I closed the door and walked back into my room, putting my weapon back where it belonged.

"Dickie-bird, I swear it's not as bad as it looks like! I was just-"

"Jason, shut up! I'm trying to sleep!" I cutted him off before he could explain himself.

"Geez, three times tonight you've been really snappy! Did you lose a drug raid or something?" Jason asked as he wandered into my bedroom. I was already back under the covers, hoping my exhaustion would knock me out soon before Jason decided to play psychologist.

"Jason, could we please talk about this when the sun's out? I'm trying to get some sleep here." I grunted as Jason sat down at the corner of my bed. He bent down, untying his boots and slipping them off with his sock before removing his mask, gloves, jacket, pants, and shirt. All he had left on was a pair of boxer's with Roy's insignia all over it.

"Dickie's grumpy and needs someone to take his mind off of things! Good thing Jay-Jay is here to help! Scoot over Dickie so Jay-Jay can snuggle with you!" Jason exclaimed as he pushed me over so he could slip under the blankets too.

"Ok, calling yourself Jay-Jay is one thing, but snuggling with me? I thought you hated my hugs? Why would you all of a sudden want snuggle time with me?" I questioned as Jason wrapped his arms around my waist. I felt his lips kissing and sucking the crook of my neck as I squirmed away from his touch. It made me feel weird whenever Jason wanted intimacy from me, especially considering the current situation that I have and his touches aren't making them feel any better.

"Shh…Dickie let me help you relax." Jason whispered in my ear as he pulled off my shirt to allow himself to mark me as he pleased.

"Jay…I'm not in the mood for this." I warned him as he moaned.

"Then you better get in the mood! What about last year, when you were in the mood and I wasn't? You forced me into the mood and now it's my turn to force you!" Jason retorted as I silenced myself. He took this as an opportunity to steal my lips with his, and kissed and sucked on them until I granted him access. We fought for dominance with our tongues as we clawed each other's bodies and rolled around on the bed.

Jason worked his way on top of me as I broke off our kiss and flung my head back against the pillows, while he bit down on my neck. I let a few hisses of pain out as he began to lick the blood coming out of my skin, aggressively like a starved vampire. I could tell he was in an odd mood tonight from the way he was submissively acting around me like at the tower and here at my front door. Was he scared of me or was he just trying to be the nice guy in the awkward/tension filled atmosphere? Just as he was about to head down to my chest, I pushed his away from me gently, hoping he would catch the hint.

"What's wrong? Did I do something?" Jason asked me as I shook my head.

"You're different tonight." I stated, hoping he wouldn't be offended.

"I'm what?" he questioned as he straddled my waist and sat up straight.

"Different, as in not your usual bossy, headstrong, stubborn ways. Did something happen at home?" I clarified as he visibly stiffened.

"I don't want to talk about it now. Come on; let's just make you happy-go-lucky Dickie-bird again." He said, avoiding any eye contact with me for a possible good reason.

"But Jay, this isn't like you to act so…"

"So…what?"

"So vulnerable…cautious… scared."

"So what if I am?"

"Jay, did I scare you?"

"No, you can't scare me. Damian the Demon child can, but not you."

"Then what is it? Why won't you tell me?"

"I don't want to talk about it, Grayson, so shut up and let me have you."

"But Jay-"

"No buts! I told you to shut up so shut up already!"

"Will you tell me in the morning?"

"Depends on my mood."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"…"

"…"

"Love you, Jaybird."

"Love you too, Dickie-bird."

For the rest of the night we had hours of hard core sex. It had been months since we've done it so we had a lot of catching up to do. I felt a little weird after a while, so I faked being tired and let Jason sleep in my arms. I wasn't tired anymore like I was earlier, but I wished that I had gotten a few hours of sleep for my day job. Oh wait…I forgot…I was fired…

Jason woke me up by noon, complaining about how there was hardly any food around my kitchen, and the fact that he was tired of talking to Tim on the phone. Apparently Alfred was worried about Jason not coming home last night and the old guy wanted to make sure he was ok. Tim had been the lucky contestant to be the one to call Jason since Alfred had trouble using his iPhone. Anyways, I slowly got up and got dressed, wincing at certain body parts for being so achy in the afternoon from certain late night activities, and when I walked into the kitchen, I saw Jason tossing my police handgun in the air and catching it.

"Be careful, Jay, that gun is loaded and the safety's broken." I warned him as he put the gun down on my countertop.

"So are you going to go on patrol soon with your cop friends or is today a day off?" he asked slyly as I grabbed a honey bun from the cabinet.

"I'm not a cop anymore." I stated blankly as Jason dramatically gasped.

"Goody-goody gum drops Dickie isn't a law enforcement officer anymore? How can this be?" Jason cried as he epically fainted into my arms. I shot him a deathly look as he slowly returned to his normal standing position. But then I had an idea and decided to see how far it could go before Jason realized that I was kidding.

"I was offered another job in Gotham and decided to take it." I sighed as Jason looked curious.

"Oh really, what kind of job is it?" he asked as he started poking my sides when I didn't answer at first.

"It's a job in the entertainment/business/fashion industry." I hinted as I watched his face contort into a wicked grin.

"Don't tell me, I wanna guess! Are you a porn star?" Jason questioned as I slapped him across the face.

"Seriously Jason, do you have to go there?" I exclaimed as Jason rubbed the sore spot.

"Ok, ok, then are you going to be a…uh…um…oh well, I give up." He groaned as I sighed loudly.

"It's kind of an odd job; not the usual job I would get but it pays more than my last one." I hummed. I was running through possible crazy jobs there would be in Gotham and finally settled for one.

"Just tell me your new job already!" he yells as I took a sip of his coffee.

"I am going to be Gotham's next live model at Calvin Klein." I mumbled softly, but it was loud enough for Jason to hear me. At first, he looked at me like I was kidding, but when I didn't laugh, he knew I wasn't trying to make a joke and he, in turn, ended up on the floor laughing at me.

"Y-You're going to be…to be the model for Calvin Klein? Oh my God, that's fucking hilarious!" Jason hollered as he grabbed the sides of his stomach.

"Ugh…this is why I didn't want anyone to know because I knew people were going to laugh at me." I sadly sighed, hoping it would make Jason stop and fell somewhat guilty. He did stop laughing shortly after I said that and he quickly stood up and composed himself.

"Oh, well, uh, congratulations on the new job. Sorry for uh, laughing…" he awkwardly apologized as a sly smirk grew on my face.

"You're still the same gullible Jason." I stated as he gave me a look, but then started laughing again.

"Geez dude, I thought you were serious! So are you still a cop?" he asked, probably making sure something out of that whole lie was true.

"No, I got fired four days ago for defying orders from a superior officer." I said as Jason snorted.

"No shit. You were always bullheaded when it came to orders from Bruce. So you decided to be a rebel and do what you wanted to do for once, to slander the good cop image from yourself forever and you got fired for it…"

"No…not exactly…"

"Oh, do tell."

"I'm not ready to talk about it yet."

"Hmm, fine."

We were quiet for a while, silently wondering what to do or say next. I finished my honey bun and went back into my bedroom to repair my Nightwing uniform from last night's patrol, unaware of Jason following me closely. I forgot to ask him about what was wrong with him last night, but decided to drop the subject since he didn't like opening up.

As I was fixing up a tear in my sleeve, Jason fell back on my bed, gently rubbing circles into my back while humming a song I used to play on Bruce's Grand Piano; that is, when I used to live at the Manor. I couldn't help but smile at his antics for trying to cheer me up/calm me down from a stressful situation. Ever since we had that "fling" a year ago, Jason knows everything about me.

Last year, Bruce disappeared suddenly right after Damian joined us, and I was chosen to be a temporary Batman until Bruce came back. Jason, who just got out of jail for his many drinking problems, was roaming the streets of Gotham in a dizzying drunken state of mind. He thought that nobody from our family wanted him ever again, so he resumed to living on the streets. Alfred, being the greatest butler in the world, felt that Jason had suffered enough in prison so he picked him up one night when Jason was drunk off his ass from a local bar, and took him to the Manor. But ever since Bruce had a rule about alcoholics living in the Manor, we took Jason to a rehab center to get help. During some of the healing process, Jason would get nightmares and/or sleep paralysis while he slept so I volunteered to sleep in his room on a cot so I could be right there whenever he needed me. Eventually, Jason went through impulsive stages, in which he would either lash out at others or demand sex from me. I felt like I was helping him by offering myself to him, but ever since he accidently confessed his hidden feelings for me, I couldn't help but fall in love with him as well. We got to know everything about each other and how each others' mind worked. We were so in tuned with the other that we ended up sharing a room and a bed like a normal couple.

But when Bruce came back from God knows where, Bruce and I started fighting, a lot. Jason tried his best to convince me to just leave Bruce alone, but every time Damian mentioned anything from the many nights of patrolling with me by his side, Bruce would yell at me for being too soft on him and that I didn't discipline him enough. Eventually, our arguing got really bad one night, which ended in me getting kicked out of the Manor and never speaking to Bruce or the others again. And for the past seven months I've been living in Bludhaven, I realized that all of those pent up emotions inside of me were about to eat me alive.

"Are you stressed out about losing your job?" Jason asked unexpectedly as I froze on spot. He caught me off guard, which isn't something I'm used to being. There were a lot of things running through my head from last night and I wasn't so sure of how to explain them all to him.

Jason noticed how quiet I had gotten and quickly sat up beside me to make sure I was ok. I kept staring down at the ground, focused on the paint stain left on my carpet while he looped an arm around my waist. He pulled me in closer so I could feel the warmth he was radiating off of him, which made me feel a little better. Suddenly, I felt pulses of pain racing underneath the skin of my scalp and my hand instantly smacked against it to stop it from hurting any further. It didn't work as I hunched over in pain, while Jason gripped me tighter to prevent me from falling down.

"What's wrong?" he asked me as I winced.

"Migraine…" I moaned as he stood up and went into my bathroom. I assumed he was looking for pain killers so I fell back against the blankets and waited for him to return. He came back shortly after with a cup of water and a bottle of Tylenol.

"Do you get these often? The bottle is half full and it looks like you've only had this for a week." Jason asked me quietly as I took the bottle and dumped out two pills. I threw them into my mouth and grabbed the water and swallowed them all in a few gulps.

"Yeah, whenever I remember something or when I'm really stressed out." I replied as I lied back down on my pillows. Jason took my water away and set it down beside my nightstand before lying down beside me.

"Hmm…" he hummed as he stared off into the distance. "You should rest, Dick. I won't go away."

"I know…but I can't."

"Why not?"

"Too many things swimming inside my head."

"Tell me; you've always told us that talking about the things on your mind would make everyone feel better."

"I know I said that but this one needs to be taken in small amounts."

"I can take it."

"I know you can, but the others…"

"Won't know anything about it unless we tell them." Jason finished my sentence as he glared at me. I inhaled deeply before speaking, mostly to calm myself down and prevent an unwanted panic attack from spilling too much.

"I…just can't…" I struggled with my words as I turned away from Jason. He tried to turn me back over to face him, but I resisted and eventually got out of the bed and stood up against the closest wall.

"Dick, why can't you tell me? Don't you trust me?" Jason shouted as I sunk down to the floor, trembling.

"Dammit…dammit…not now…" I cursed as I felt my lungs suddenly not inhaling all the way.

"Answer me!" Jason ordered as he crawled off the bed and crouched down in front of me.

"Can't…breathe…" I muttered as Jason shoved my head between my legs and kept his hands on my shoulders.

"Yes, you can, Dick, just breathe. It's ok. Everything is going to be ok. Just calm down." Jason hushed in my ear as he rubbed my back with his fingers as I took deep breathes. While he continued to whisper kind words to me, I couldn't help but scold myself for showing him how vulnerable I have become.

After my little episode, Jason left me alone in my room for the rest of the afternoon. He would only come in a few times to check on me before leaving to go watch TV again in my living room. I felt weird leaving this strange tension in the apartment so I debated on whether I should clear it myself or have Jason do it for me.

"Tim and Damian are coming over soon, so I suggest getting out of bed to prevent them from thinking you're sick!" Jason shouted as I looked over at my opened door into the hallway that was glowing from the TV.

Sighing, I rolled off of my bed and went to take a quick shower before my little brothers got here. Knowing Alfred, he probably wanted to make sure I had gotten Bruce's message and was preparing my things to go live at the Manor again, and why not add two of the people I'm temporarily having custody over to the mix? Ignoring the oncoming spats from Tim and Damian, I stepped inside of my shower and allowed the hot water to scorch my skin until it turned red and stung like Hell.

After my shower, I changed into fresher clothes and fixed my hair to make it look like I actually cared about my appearance for once. Jason just so happened "borrowed" some of my clothes as well, claiming that his clothes needed to be washed and are in my washer as we speak. Rolling my eyes, I sat down in my arm chair, watching the door carefully to know when Tim and Damian would be coming. Jason was on the couch, lying down with his whole body, preventing any sort of comfort for our guests when they arrived. That or he's just being a lazy ass slob like he always is at the Manor…

The door knocked lightly as I watched Jason stand up quickly and run over to look through the peephole. He made a joke about not wanting any Girl Scout cookies, before getting a muffled threat from Damian. Luckily he managed to open my door before unknown damages could have happened in time, allowing an annoyed Tim and a pissed off Damian inside my already tension filled apartment.

"Grayson, I see you haven't packed one bag yet. What gives?" Damian pointed out as I looked up at him with a blank look on my face.

"I already told you that I'm not coming with you guys so just accept it and get over it." I said as Damian snorted. He and Tim took the couch while Jason walked into the kitchen and prepared drinks for everyone.

"Dick, seriously this isn't like you. Why won't you come back to Gotham with us? Don't you love us anymore?" Tim asked with a worried tone. He was playing the good old guilty card on me, but I wasn't falling for it.

"I have my reasons Tim and you know that. Gotham isn't a place I belong in." I sighed as Jason handed me a cup of tea.

"You're lying! You want to go back but you're just scared that my father will kick you out again! Well to tell you the truth, Father has been an emotional wreck ever since you left and it would mean the world to him if you came back!" Damian exclaimed, completely unaware of how close he was to hitting the nail on the coffin.

"Damian, don't harass him too much. He just lost his job for reasons he hasn't told me yet." Jason scolded him as he sat down on the arm of the couch.

"You what? You lost your job? Why?" Tim gasped as Jason shook his head.

"Dickie has been quiet about it ever since I started bugging him about it. It's pointless to pressure him now to spill his guts out, 'cuz he's shut himself up tight." Jason informed them as Tim looked at me with concern written all over his face. Something inside of me clicked on as I felt all my pent up anger exploding from within as I stood up sharply and stared down at all of them in rage.

"You wanna know why I was fired from my job, eh? Well it was because I refused to shoot at a 12 year old, mentally retarded boy for accidentally killing his parents and younger sister! I could've cared less if he was considered a threat to the public, he didn't know what was going on and he was scared! He just wanted to play cops and robbers with his sister and thought that using his dad's loaded gun would be perfect to play with! He never dreamed of killing his whole family! He just wanted to fucking play! And do you know what happened to that kid? My superior officer shot him, completely ignoring my pleads to let him alone, and now the kid is dead! And then my boss chewed me out for being a coward and fired me right on the spot! And you know what else my boss has done to me? He's given me ten days to get out of this apartment or else I would be thrown out into the streets like a rat! I have nowhere else to go 'cuz Bruce never calls me anymore, Barbra has a new boyfriend, and no one wants me! No one has ever wanted me! I'm…I'm…alone…." I ranted on and on until the last sentence, in which I ended up on the floor bawling my eyes out, while Tim and Jason came to my aid. I was completely hysterical, ignoring Tim's and Jason's calming words as I tried to curl up into a ball. I wanted to be left alone, I needed to be alone or else I would completely lose myself.

"Sorry Dick, but we need you to calm down." Jason whispered in my ear before swiftly knocking me out.


	2. Chapter 2

I felt dizzy when I opened my eyes and found out that Jason and Alfred were helping me down the stairs of my apartment complex. The elevator just so happened to be "out of order", which made us to use the never ending staircases. As we approached the last set, I felt my knees buckle right under me and I slumped down too fast for Jason and Alfred to catch me. I landed on the top of the step with a hard thud as they both scrambled to help me up in a sitting position against the nearby wall.

"Master Richard, are you alright?" Alfred asked me as my head hung down loosely on my shoulders.

"I'm so dizzy…I can't focus…my head hurts…" I mumbled as I felt hands on my shoulders.

"Dick, you gotta get up. We only have nine more stairs to go and then I can carry you to the limo." Jason assured me as I lifted my head up to see him. He had a worried expression on his face as I rolled my eyes and closed them again.

"Master Jason, remind me again how hard you hit him again?" Alfred asked sternly as Jason pulled my arm over his shoulders.

"Just enough to knock him out for a while." Jason huffed as Alfred took my other arm and threw it over his shoulders and lifted me up.

"You better pray he doesn't have a concussion, Master Jason, or else Master Bruce will be furious." Alfred warned him before I blacked out again.

I woke up again but to darkness and a motor running. My head was sitting on something warm and firm, and when I looked up to my right, I saw Jason dozing off to sleep against the window of the limo. The car clock read 4:57 am as I tried to figure out where we were while enjoying the comfort of Jason's thigh.

When the limo shut off, I knew exactly where we were by the conversation between Alfred, Tim, and Damian outside of the vehicle. Jason stirred slightly and groaned when he finally woke up, but instantly stopped groaning when he looked down at me. We stared at each other for awhile until he took his hand and grasped mine.

"You ok?" he asked me as I nodded my head.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. We're at the Manor, right?"

"Yep; hope you're not too upset."

"I'll get over it. Is Alfred worried about me?"

"Yeah, and he'll have my head if I gave you a concussion. Tim and Damian are worried about you too by the sound of it."

"Hmm…can I sleep with you for the rest of the night?"

"Sure, besides your room needs to be cleaned anyways since it's now a shrine dedicated to you. I'm sure Alfred will get right on it after he gets some sleep."

"Whoa, wait a minute…did you say shrine?"

"Yeah, Bruce took all of the pictures with you in them and hid them in your room. I saw him in there one time, lighting candles and shit, and begging for your forgiveness and for your return."

"Creepy…"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Master Richard, I'm glad to see that you are awake and chatty as usual." Alfred exclaimed suddenly as we noticed the door was already opened and Tim and Damian were watching us intently.

"I'm chatty. It's part of my charm." I stated as Tim started laughing. Damian and Jason both smirked while Alfred helped me out of the limo.

"Well I'm glad to see you standing, sir. Now, I want to give you a head examine once we are inside to see if Master Jason accidently gave you a concussion." Alfred informed me as Jason snorted.

"I told you it was just enough to knock him out!" Jason protested as he took my hand and dragged me into the Manor.

"I don't wanna hear your kinky business tonight, so keep it down!" Damian shouted before Jason slammed the front door shut. I was blushing madly by the comment and from what I could tell, so was Jason.

Once we made it into Jason's room, I was greeted by his new kitten, Gypsy. She was a little black cat with blue eyes and brown spots all over her tiny body. She wore a pink collar with hand drawn gypsy designs from my family's jewelry box. She meowed loudly at Jason, who caught his attention and he bent down to pick her up. He scratched her behind her fuzzy ears while she purred and gave him small kisses on his nose.

"Aw, she's so cute, Jay!" I exclaimed as Jason glared at me.

"She's not cute, Dickie; she's extremely adorable and will forever be so! Get it right!" Jason clarified as the kitten meowed loudly again while squirming. He gave me Gypsy before marching off to his bathroom. I was surprised to see the little thing as friendly towards others while made a fuss over her and she licked my nose.

I fell backwards onto Jason's bed and let Gypsy roll around on top of me, while I waited for Jason to return. Gypsy found one of the hoodie strings and began to play with it when I realized that the hoodie I was wearing wasn't mine. Now how the Hell did Jason manage to do that without waking me up?

"Gypsy-girl, it's time for bed. We'll all play with Dickie later." Jason cooed as he carefully picked up the kitten and placed her in a playpen.

"Why are you putting her in there?" I asked him while he was bent over the side of the playpen.

"Because she'll either get lost under the covers or squashed by the two of us. Besides, she still needs to practice using her litter box; she's not doing so great with the whole potty training thing yet." Jason explained in hushed tones as if Gypsy could understand that he was insulting her.

"How did you get a cat?"

"Damian found a box full of four week old kitten with their dead momma a couple of weeks ago in an alleyway. Alfred said we could all have one as long as we can take care of them."

"Really?"

"Yeah, they were all so small and cold so Alfred couldn't say 'no' to them without feeling guilty. Tim's is a little orange and white tabby named Buttons and Damian's is a brown and white tabby named Winchester. I don't think Tim's good at naming things in my opinion. There was a white kitten we all named Snowball but she dies a few days ago. She was really sick like her mom and we knew she wasn't going to last for very long. Damian's response right after she died was 'At least she died in a happy home.'"

"Aw, Damian's so sweet! I never knew that side of him! And especially yours, Jason!"

"Hey, I'm not all that bad all the time!"

"I know, I know, I'm teasing. So, why the name Gypsy?"

"I don't know; it suits her."

"I think it's because you missed me, didn't you?"

"No…"

"Lier."

"MEOW!" cried Gypsy as she scaled the side of her playpen and stared at us.

"Well excuse us for talking, little missy!" Jason retorted as I lightly hit his arm. Gypsy seemed to have ignored his comment and hopped down back into her mountain of fluffy pillows and fell asleep.

"I don't see how that worked but I guess I shouldn't question everything." I admitted as Jason flopped down beside me.

"Can I kiss you?" Jason asked randomly as I turned over to face him.

"You can always kiss me, Jason. You don't have to ask."

"I know…it's just that I thought you would have wanted to go downstairs to see if your head is messed up any further than it should be…"

"You think too much." I said as I kissed him passionately as he snaked his arms around my waist. He pulled me on top of him while we continued to kiss, completely unaware of how awkward the situation was going to get. We didn't ever hear the door opening until we heard Tim screaming.

"Oh dear Lord, my eyes! My beautiful eyes have been scarred by indecency!" Tim cried as Jason threw a pillow at his head.

"It's not like you haven't done this before with that Superboy you're always talking about!" Jason retorted as Tim blushed furiously and took Jason's pillow and threw it back at him.

"Dick, Jason's picking on me!" Tim tattle-tailed as Jason gasped.

"Timmy's being mean to me!" Jason cried as he hugged me tightly.

"The both of you shut up and get over it. Tim, is there something you need?" I asked him as Jason and Tim threw each other funny faces.

"Alfred told me to come get you so he can examine your head. Jason can stay here." Tim huffed as Jason pouted.

"But I wanna come too!" he whined as I patted him on the head.

"I'll be right back." I assured him as I kissed his forehead before leaving his room to follow Tim.

The Batcave was really dismal as I followed Tim down the stone-cut stairs. Damian, the little brat, was on his father's computer searching for villains until he finally passed out on the chair. Alfred was there in time to cover him with a fuzzy yellow blanket when Tim and I finally made it down. We all snuck back into the medic bay of the cave, hoping to not wake up Damian while we opened the cabinets and drawers that seemed to squeak really loudly.

""Alright Master Richard, let's get this over with before Young Master Damian wakes up." Alfred whispered as I sat down on the exam table. Tim stood at the entrance of the bay, keeping a close on both Damian and myself.

"It doesn't hurt too much, Al. I think I'm ok." I assured him as he flashed a pen light into my eyes. Besides the spotty vision afterwards, Alfred looked pleased. He then made me tilt my head forward so he could see where the bruise was forming from Jason's "love tap."

"No, signs of a serious concussion, but we'll have to see what the X-ray says before we rule it out." Alfred said as he pushed me down on the table so he could position the X-ray above my head.

"Aren't you going to check if he has any metal on him?" Tim asked as I snickered.

"I have more metal on me than you do kiddo." I snorted as Alfred shooed Tim and himself out of the door and turned on the X-ray. I waited a few minutes until I watched the machine rise up into the ceiling, signaling my cue to sit back up again.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tim asked as Alfred shhed him.

"Another time, Master Timothy. Well, I'd say Master Jason was correct. No concussion; just swelling and bruising but that's hardly anything. Just tell me when it hurts so I can give you medication." Alfred concluded as I hoped off the table and went to go back up the stairs.

"Thanks Alfred, I'm going to bed. 'Night Timmy!" I whispered as I gave Tim a noogie before running back up the stairs.

When I returned to Jason's bedroom, the lights were out and he was sound asleep in his bed. I pouted at first but then skipped over to where he was sleeping and hovered over him for a while. He was so cute with his hair slightly messed up and his nose crooked from snuggling into his pillow. I wished I had a camera and made some stupid pink bunny toy so I could show Damian and Tim what Jason does in his sleep, but then I realized my wrist was being gripped by a hand.

"Dickie's back…come in bed…I'm cold…" Jason mumbled in his sleep as I removed my shoes, socks, shirt, and pants before slipping under his blankets.

"I thought you were asleep." I whispered as he roped his arm around my waist and pulled me closer to him.

"I heard the door opening."

"Oh…"

"What's the…*yawn*…verdict?"

"No concussion; just swelling and bruising."

"That's good…now Daddy Bats won't kill me…"

"He wasn't going to kill you in the first place, Jay. Alfred just said that so you would know not to do that all the time."

"Hey, you were hysterical and you needed to calm down or else you would've put yourself in a hospital."

"I wasn't that hysterical…"

"Yeah, you were."

"Don't remind me…"

"Haha…poor Dickie…"

"You tired?"

"Yeah…let's sleep…" Jason mumbled before falling back to sleep. I could tell because he always lightly snoring whenever he's in his dreamland. Just before I closed my eyes, I took one last look around the room before I went to sleep. I still had to figure out what was wrong with Jason from the other night or so when he was acting all strange but I guess I'll find out in a couple of hours.

"_In today's news, Anthony Zucco was released from Blackgate Penitentiary from his 19 year sentence for the murder of John and Mary Grayson. Police escorted the man into an unmarked vehicle to a safe house in order to keep away from the crowding media at the penitentiary. We have not been able to get a comment from Richard Grayson, their only child who was fostered by Bruce Wayne, and we are not positive if we ever will. This has always been a touchy subject with the man and we won't be surprised if he wishes to keep his opinions to himself."_

"_Dick, I can explain!"_

"_You lied to me! You told me he was dead! That the Joker killed him!"_

"_I didn't want you to seek revenge for your parents' death."_

"_Really? Is that how you want to put it? I have been so happy to know that the guy was dead for so many years and now it was all just been a lie to keep me from wanting revenge? Has my whole life been a lie then?"_

"_No, it hasn't!"_

"_Then tell me one time I never had to lie about my life? Remind me of one time when I told someone everything?"_

"…"

"_You can't because you told me to keep everything a secret! My best friends have no idea who I really am because everything I tell them is a lie so you can be happy!"_

"_Dick, please stop fighting."_

"_I was never happy having you lie about your life to others! I wanted your friends to know you but look what happened when someone on the team found out everything and turned against us?"_

"_So what? That was one time and that person was punished by the League! That person never got anything on me because I was forced to keep my trap shut! My friends had to suffer exposure while I had to watch them get bombarded with media people and villains!"_

"_At least you were safe!"_

"_I don't want to be safe anymore, Bruce! For Christ's sake I'm 27 years old!"_

"_And yet you still act like a child!"_

"_Oh, yeah, sure, be immature Bruce!"_

"_Guys, please stop this."_

"_That's it! Get out of my house!"_

"_Fine! This place reeks of your egotistical fuming head anyways!"_

"_You can't let Dick go, Dad! Please don't let him go!"_

"_Damian, go up to bed now!"_

"_Dick, please don't go."_

"_Get out of my way Tim!"_

"_Jason, do something! Stop him!"_


	3. Chapter 3

Last night's dream replayed in my mind over and over again while I ate breakfast with my family for the first time in seven months. It was relatively normal, and when I say normal I mean as normal as it can get in this house, with Damian cussing Tim out over something stupid and Jason texting _my_ best friend, Roy Harper and _my_ first ex- fiancé, Kor'i (aka Starfire). Alfred was playing referee with Tim and Damian for their rude behavior that almost escalated into a physical war, and nanny with Jason for using his phone during a meal time. I, on the other hand, remained as quiet as can be. I wasn't in the mood for their petty arguments.

I barely ate any of my breakfast as fragments of the dream kept interrupting. I was finally so fed up with my head that I left the table without warning and proceeded to head down to the training room. I barely heard Jason's voice telling me to come back, but I ignored it like all the other voices in my head. I changed into my workout clothes and wrapped up my hands before I went to town on the punching bag. It felt good to let out all my frustrations on something that doesn't feel pain. Before I knew it, Jason was already waiting for me to stop so he could spar with me.

"You done yet?" Jason asked as I tornado kicked the bag. The bag was sent flying off its chain and hit the wall hard enough to rip open the seams and release all the little plastic pellets all over the floor.

"Yeah…I'm done." I said as Jason shook his head at the fallen bag.

"Why did you leave breakfast?"

"Not hungry."

"Bullshit." I dodged his punches as I flipped over his back.

"My head is messing with me again."

"You want me to -ow!- to hit you again?" I got him in his stomach.

"No thanks."

"What happened to Mr. -shit!- Chatterbox?"

"I'm talking to you right now."

"Yeah, in fragments."

"Well sorry I don't feel like -ugh- talking." Suddenly I was flipped upside down and slammed onto the mat below us. Jason literally sat on top of me and panted heavily as I stared at him in shock. He had a nice bruise forming on his left cheek as he wiped the blood off of his bleeding lip.

"I…win…" he said as I sighed. I closed my eyes for a split second before my lips were being kissed by his. I kissed back and shoved my tongue into his mouth as Jason straddled me while restraining my wrists with his hands. I could taste his blood as we continued to make out on the gym floor. I broke the kiss when I heard the door opening and turned to see who came in. It was Alfred.

"Am I interrupting something?" Alfred asked as Jason stood up. He offered me a hand as I took it and lifted myself up.

"No Al, we were just finished training. My lip's bleeding. Fix it!" Jason whined as Alfred motioned him to come over.

"It's nothing serious, Master Jason. Go clean it up. You'll regretfully live." Alfred teased as I snickered. Jason stuck his tongue out at the old man before jogging over to the bathroom. Alfred looked at me and gave me a small smile.

"I'm not hurt, Alfred, if you're wondering. I'll be ok." I assured him as he took out a handkerchief.

"You have some of Master Jason's blood on your mouth, sir." Alfred pointed out as he gave me the handkerchief. I felt myself blushing as I took it from him and wiped off my mouth.

"You didn't…you know…" I asked as Alfred waved me off.

"I didn't see anything, sir. Now, will you come upstairs and finish your breakfast? Masters Timothy and Damian have left for the time being and I'm sure Master Jason would like it if you would eat. I can tell you are on the thin side as of late." Alfred said as I felt a little guilty.

"Alright, I'll go upstairs and eat. Just don't force feed me." I agreed as I hit the showers and changed before going upstairs.

The song on the radio is really depressing. It's making me remember things that I don't want to remember. But somehow I'm not able to turn off the radio. I'm not able to move. I can't feel anything. It's almost as if something is keeping me pinned down on the bed, forbidding me to do much of anything.

_Another head hangs lowly,  
>Child is slowly taken.<br>And the violence caused such silence,  
>Who are we mistaken?<em>

_But you see, it's not me, it's not my family.  
>In your head, in your head they are fighting,<br>With their tanks and their bombs,  
>And their bombs and their guns.<br>In your head, in your head, they are crying..._

_In your head, in your head,  
>Zombie, zombie, zombie,<br>Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,  
>In your head,<br>Zombie, zombie, zombie?  
>Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, dou, dou, dou, dou, dou...<em>

I can move my hands now as well as my arms and legs. Something's telling me to hide, but where? I can't stand up nor pick anything up to smash Jason's stupid radio. My breath is labored and my chest feels heavy. I begin to curl up in a ball for no reason at all and put my hands over my ears in an attempt to block out the song, but I can still hear it.

_Another mother's breakin',  
>Heart is taking over.<br>When the vi'lence causes silence,  
>We must be mistaken.<em>

_It's the same old theme since nineteen-sixteen.  
>In your head, in your head they're still fighting,<br>With their tanks and their bombs,  
>And their bombs and their guns.<br>In your head, in your head, they are dying..._

_In your head, in your head,  
>Zombie, zombie, zombie,<br>Hey, hey, hey. What's in your head,  
>In your head,<br>Zombie, zombie, zombie?  
>Hey, hey, hey, hey, oh, oh, oh,<br>Oh, oh, oh, oh, hey, oh, ya, ya-a..._

I can feel tears streaming down my face, burning hot and making me shake. I can't breathe, think, or move. I let out a choked sob as someone opens the door and rushes over to me. They grab my shoulders and pull me into a strong and warm embrace as I bawl my eyes out. The radio is turned off and all I hear is myself and this person's heart beating a mile a minute.

"Breathe Dick…just breathe." This person whispers as I bury my head into their shoulder. I can tell this person is a guy by the way that his shoulder is built. He's very muscular, almost thick to the point where you wouldn't do much damage if you hit him in his chest. He smells good too, like Axe body spray, but not too much of it that makes you gag. Who is this person? Jason always smells like gunpowder and Damian smells like cat.

"Will he be ok, Tim? He looks like he's having a meltdown." Another voice whispers as I put the pieces together. Tim is hugging me; the other guy in the room is probably Superboy/Kon; I can hear someone else picking up things and putting them back down, which means that Impulse/Bart is here too. I don't like the feeling of being watched by Tim's friends. They are used to seeing me as the founder of the Titans, a big brother to everyone, and someone of great power and wisdom.

"Tim, le face sa plece." I whispered in Romanian as Tim rubbed circles into my back.

"What did he say, Tim?" Bart asked.

"Could you guys give us a minute?" Tim asked.

"Um, I guess so. Come on Bart, Alfred made us cookies downstairs." Kon ushered as I heard the door opening and closing. I pushed Tim away from me and recoiled to the far side of the bed as Tim tried to regain his balance on the bed. He gave me a worried look as I pulled my knees up to my chest and hugged myself.

"Dick, it's just me. Tim. Your brother. It's ok." Tim said as I glared at him.

"Why are you in here?" I demanded as Tim rubbed the back of his head.

"Kon heard you breathing funny and your heart beating like you just ran around the world. I just wanted to make sure you were ok."

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not! You had a panic attack just now because of a song on the radio! Dick, please, let me help you. Let us all help you."

"I don't need any help. I want to be left alone."

"Dick, just talk to me."

"I am talking to you."

"No, you're not. You're giving me bullshitted answers! What happened to you? You used to be able to talk to me about everything!"

"People change; some things are not meant to be talked about."

"This isn't like you! Dick, please-"

"Stop talking and leave me the Hell alone! Get out!" I shouted as Tim stood up and ran out of the room. As soon as the door slammed, I felt guilty. All Tim was trying to do was help me and I completely blew up in his face.

I walked over to Jason's laptop and hacked into it to pull up the internet. I typed in the radio station's web address and looked for that song that had just played. I found it and went onto to find the song and put it on a continuous loop. Once I found it, I slid down the end of Jason's bed and sat on the floor. I allowed the song to take me away into my inner world and allowed it to consume me.

Damian came strolling in and sat down beside me on the floor in his Robin costume. He didn't say a word as he stared at his boots and loosened his laces. I knew he was going to talk to me; Hell everyone seemed to want to talk to me. I waited for him to speak up but when he was about to, Tim and Jason were calling him to come downstairs for patrol. I watched as Damian rested his head against my arm as he closed his eyes. His forehead felt warm, like feverish.

"Damian, are you ok?" I asked him as he looked up at me.

"My head hurts." He whispered as I pulled him into a sideways hug. I placed my hand on his head and estimated how high his fever was. Low grade, but just enough to make you weak and incapacitated for the night.

"You have a fever, buddy." I said as Damian sighed.

"I know, but they don't know yet."

"Why didn't you tell them?"

"I don't want to be called weak."

"Everyone gets sick. You're not going to be called weak."

"Alfred says you're sick too."

"I have…a different kind of illness, I guess; a type of illness that you can't get by sitting next to me."

"Like a genetic disorder?"

"Something like that."

"Are you going to be ok?"

"I don't know."

"I'm tired."

"Then let's get you out of these clothes and get you to bed. I know a good cold/flu medicine that puts you to sleep right away."

"Carry me?"

"Of course."

I carried Damian bridal-style to his bedroom and helped him out of his Robin uniform. His cheeks were a bit flushed and he looked like he was about to pass out as I helped him into his pajamas. I covered him with his blankets once he had collapsed on his pillows and went downstairs to the medicine cabinet to get him some Nyquil.

"I'm giving you only one pill to take since this stuff can knock me out in 20 minutes when I take two. They're kind of big so be careful." I warned him as I handed him a glass of water. Damian took the blue pill and swallowed it with two gulps of water and then lied back down on his pillows.

"Will you…stay here?" Damian asked as I was shocked. Damian always seemed to hate me being so close like this. Why does he want me now?

"Um, ok." I agreed as I pulled up a chair and sat down. Damian shook his head and patted on the bed.

"I meant here, like you used to do whenever I had nightmares, even though I chased you out." He said as I smiled.

"Let me go get changed and I'll be right back." I promised him as I walked out of his room and went back to Jason's. I stole a pair of Jason's pj's and changed into them rather quickly as I found myself heading back to Damian's room. I wondered if the others had left already since Damian clearly didn't come downstairs.

I crawled into Damian's bed and rested beside him as he slept on top of my chest. He was out cold from his exhaustion and medicine and I found it heartwarming that I was able to comfort Damian again. I was also glad that he didn't mind being open with me; something he was probably unable to do with Bruce and everyone else. I soon found myself drifting off to sleep as well, finding it harder to keep my eyes open. So I allowed myself to fall asleep, unaware of people watching me.


	4. Update!

Sorry for not updating for a long time! I love all of the reviews and I hope to continue to please you all with my next chapter. This story is hard to write. There are a lot of details and problems that I had to work out between Dick, Jason, and Bruce. The next chapter will feature a psychologist (yay!) and (spoiler alert!) Bruce, who comes home early from Hong Kong! Dun dun Dunn!


	5. Chapter 4

Two days after Damian had gotten sick, the kid was feeling much better and off terrorizing Tim and Jason again. Damian wasn't going to show them any mercy for a long time, due to the fact that Jason and Tim took pictures of us sleeping in his bed when he had a fever. Blackmailing Damian is like poking a grizzly bear with a spear...you know it's going to end badly.

As for myself, I was able to behave myself and kept out of everyone's way as much as possible. Unfortunately for me, Alfred had the greatest idea ever and had made an appointment with a psychologist to come and speak with me. Let's just say I'm not thrilled to talk to someone about my problems.

"Master Richard, the doctor is here to see you now." Alfred announced as I looked up from my crossword puzzle. I was in one of the many living rooms in the Manor and had intended to be left alone for a while, but there was no way you could hide from Alfred. I pouted before I put down my puzzle and sat up on the couch.

"Send him in." I groaned as Alfred smiled.

"_Ms _Diana, he is ready for you." Alfred emphasized as Wonder Woman walked into the room with a sly smile on her face.

"Whoa...did not expect you to be here." I admitted as she closed the doors to give us privacy.

"Well, would you have rather talked to a psychologist insistent on giving you drugs for thinking that you're Nightwing, or talk to a friend of the family?"

"You have a point." She took a seat in a chair sitting across from me before looking at me seriously.

"I have heard about some of the things you have been going through, but I have a few questions to ask of you. Do you mind at all?"

"I don't have much of a choice, so no, I don't mind."

"You were fired from your job because you refused to shoot at a child, am I right?"

"Yes."

"Were any other fellow policemen equally disturbed by the thought of killing a child?"

"I don't know."

"Why not?"

"I'm not friends with any of them."

"Why?"

"Because they view me as a trust-fund baby, trying to explore my options with no real plan on staying with the force."

"Have you tried to convince them otherwise?"

"They were a waste of time to convince them of anything otherwise, so no. Besides, if any of them had some moral sense in them, they would have known that killing a child for something unintentional would be wrong. Regardless if any of them had it or not, they never stopped my superior officer from doing what he did."

"I see. How does that make you feel?"

"Seriously? Well other than the lack of rainbows and unicorns in my life, I guess I feel like shit."

"_Dick_."

"You started it."

"I'm being serious."

"I was too. I felt like shit. If I had been Nightwing and not Dick Grayson the cop, then I could have saved that child. I wasn't the hero I'm supposed to be on that day."

"Alright, let's move on. How are you and Bruce?"

"Go ask him why he built a fucking shrine in my old bedroom."

"He built a shrine?"

"That's what I said!"

"Have you two spoken to each other?"

"No. His attempt to make-amends with me was a letter written by Alfred 'cuz he was too lazy to write the damn thing himself."

"You can't stay mad at him forever."

"I can try."

"You know that's not healthy for the both of you. As soon as Bruce returns to Gotham, I want you to call me so I can have a word with both of you."

"Yes ma'am."

"One more thing, how are you and Jason doing?"

"What exactly do you mean by that question?"

"Everyone knows about your relationship with him, even though you two could be brothers."

"We're not blood-related and Bruce never fully adopted us so we are technically not brothers. It's all good."

"I remember how you were able to get Jason off of alcohol. Have you and Jason been close ever since?"

"Before I was kicked out, yes we were. Afterwards, I haven't seen him for a while until recently. We're trying to go back to what we were before."

"I'm glad to see you happy with someone who makes you happy."

"Thanks." Diana and I stayed quiet for a moment to figure out what else there was to say, but there wasn't much of anything left to say. We bided farewell before she left the Manor to return to her Watch Tower duties. She had told me we would talk again soon, which I was looking forward to; Diana has always been like a mother-figure.

**=PAGE BREAK = PAGE BREAK = PAGE BREAK = PAGE BREAK = PAGE BREAK =**

Later that evening, I was lying on my bed, in my now clean and shrine-free bedroom, fighting off another migraine. According to Jason, I needed bed rest for the remainder of the day since Wonder Woman came to see me, and now I have the strong urge to head-slap Jason, Tim, and Damian for making too much noise. Jason had taken one of Tim's video games and was playing it in the game room, which was right around the corner of the hallway, and he just so happened to sit down on Damian's bean bag chair. Needless to say, there was a lot of screaming going on and Alfred was too busy with our uninvited guest to play referee.

Speaking of which, it had seemed to me that our guest wasn't leaving anytime soon, since Alfred didn't chase him away. In fact, the butler was trying to call us all to come downstairs to see our surprise. I have learned to dislike surprises, so I was the last one to head toward the grand staircase. Standing in front of the front door was Bruce, who was being hugged by Damian and Tim while Jason stood up against the banister at the bottom of the stairs. As quickly as I had gotten there, I hurried to make an equally quick escape before Bruce could see me, but my migraine seemed to have intensify to such a degree that had me on the floor in pain.

"Dick!" Jason shouted out before he came over to my side while I was trying to figure out which way was up. God, my head hurt like a bitch. Jason decided to carry me back to my bedroom without me realizing it, and that's all I could remember because I soon found myself out-cold.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ PAGE BREAK+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

They said it was because of my blood pressure being too high. They said it was caused by my migraine. They said it was due to my high stress levels, but they were all wrong. I only have one thing to blame and he's standing beside me as if he cared about me. Damn you, Bruce...

Bruce, who has done nothing but blab his mouth off about his failed attempt in Hong Kong for business, has been standing beside my bedside since I have woken up, which has been about 20 minutes ago. Jason, Tim, Damian, and Alfred are in the room as well, trying to explain to him what was wrong with me exactly. Alfred's and Jason's explanations are the only ones to make much sense so far.

"Master Richard has been under a lot of stress as of late and I am assuming that he is not ready to see you this soon, sir." (Alfred)

"It's your fault that Dickie is like this. He hardly ever smiles, he cries himself to sleep at night, he's had at least four meltdowns since we've made contact with him, and it's all because of your stupid lie." (Jason)

Bruce's counter move to these explanations wasn't really convincing anybody.

"He shouldn't have blown up like that." (Bruce)

"You're a jackass, you know that? He had every right to blow up at you for hiding something like that. When you had let the Joker live after he murdered me, I was pissed as Hell when I came back. I thought you didn't care about me. Dickie feels the same way. You lied to him to let him sleep peacefully, knowing that the man who murdered his parents was dead and gone, until the news broadcaster exposed the truth." (Jason)

"You have to understand, I was trying to help him." (Bruce)

"Yeah, by giving him a false sense of security." (Jason)

"Guys, could we talk about this later? Dick doesn't look so good and he won't get any better if you two keep yelling." (Tim)

"Fine, but I do want to speak with Dick some time soon." (Bruce)

"Not until Diana comes back! She wants to make sure you two can get your shit sorted out before you kill each other." (Jason)

"You know Grayson has been awake this whole time." (Damian)

"Would you stop swearing, especially in front of Damian?!" (Bruce)

"Oh give me a break! The kid had a mouth on him before we even knew him!" (Jason)

After that, Alfred had decided to chase everyone out of the room, minus Damian and himself, claiming that the atmosphere wasn't good for my health. Damian, who had jumped onto my bed, began to poke me until I opened an eye to look at him. He pouted as he let out a "hmph" before speaking.

"Why didn't you say anything to them?" Damian asked me.

"I thought it was more fun pretending to be asleep." I replied.

"You are stupid, Grayson."

"Alright, let's leave Master Richard alone for now. He needs his rest. Goodnight." Alfred ushered as he took Damian out of my room. Once the door was shut tightly, I rolled over and fell back to sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a long day.


	6. Chapter 5

Diana came back to the Manor as soon as she got word of Bruce returning to the States. She was sitting across from me in an armchair while Bruce and I sat at opposite ends of the couch. It was kind of awkward since no one had spoken a word yet and I really didn't want to stay here any longer than need be.

"Now that I have you two in the same room, we'll begin the real therapy." Diana announced as I raised one of my eyebrows.

"Therapy?" Bruce questioned her as I rolled my eyes.

"Yes, Bruce, therapy. I've heard a lot about your current relationship with Dick and it's time we fix it." Diana informed him. I could tell from looking at Bruce's face he wasn't happy. "Keep things in the family" and "Don't let the League know" were two of his favorite phrases to say to me when I was Robin.

"Diana, I don't think this should concern you. We'll be fine." Bruce countered.

"I know how you work, Bruce. You don't like dealing with feelings and you would rather get these types of things over and done with as fast as possible, but what you and Dick have gone through recently cannot be repaired so easily. Let's start at the beginning: Dick, how did Bruce respond to when you first became a cop?" Diana asked me.

"He hated it. He thought it would expose my vigilante life-style right away and told me to quit." I replied quickly as Bruce narrowed his eyes.

"You were taking a huge risk and I won't have you expose us for who we are." Bruce nagged as I sighed.

"I knew what I was getting into, Bruce. I knew the risks and I handled them without any problems." I stated as Diana cleared her throat.

"Before you two start fighting, tell me, Bruce, did you say those things to him because you can't stop being an overprotective parent?" Diana questioned him.

"Excuse me?" Bruce gaped.

"Come on, Bruce, you were the most paranoid out of all of us Leaguers when Dick was Robin and he was going on missions with the other side kicks his age. You were constantly around him, which caused your first falling out with him, right? That's when Dick became Nightwing; to separate himself from you." Diana clarified as Bruce looked uncomfortable.

"..."

"Luckily you two managed to fix that after Jason died and helped Tim become the third Robin. After that, you two fought over the idea of college, moving out of the manor, running solo League missions, and everything else in between. When Damian came along, somehow you two went back to being on good terms in order to train the ninja assassin out of him and teach him how to be human. For some time, Bruce went missing and Dick took up the mantel of Batman in order to keep Gotham from going into chaos and he managed to fully train Damian into his new role as Robin. Dick also managed to get Jason sober and Tim into gifted classes at high school because he was the acting legal guardian of the time. When you came back, you took back your position as Batman and critic Dick on his performance as Batman. Apparently, Dick wasn't up to your standards, even after the others had nothing but high praises for him, including some of the villains. And seven months ago, Tony Zucco, who was supposed to be dead (according to Justice League records), is released from prison. That caused your latest fight and now you two can't even look at each other." Diana continued as Bruce looked down at the floor.

"Looks like our private life isn't so private if the League knew about it." I said sarcastically as Diana looked at me.

"Dick, how do you feel?" she asked suddenly.

"I feel fantastic." I lied.

"Really? You look like you're about to run out of the room. You don't like talking about this issue? Should we move on to the day you got fired from your job?" Diana inquired as I shook my head.

"Let's not." I said.

"You got fired? For what?" Bruce asked curiously as I shook my head again.

"I don't want to talk about it." I huffed.

"You sound just like Bruce." Diana commented.

"I do not." I denied.

"Dick, what did you do? I thought you liked being a cop?" Bruce continued as I sighed.

"I did until my superior officer ordered me to kill a mentally retarded child. You can guess what I did and how I got fired from there."

"You defied orders and got fired for disobeying your commanding officer. I told you joining the police force was a bad idea."

"For the love of God, would you stop?! I liked being a cop! Sure it sucked sometimes, but it gave me something to do without being associated with you! I was Dick Grayson there; not Bruce Wayne's ward!"

"What's wrong with being associated with me?"

"Um, let me think. I'm constantly compared to you, the press wants to know how I feel about not being adopted like Tim was and how I'm not related to you by blood like Damian is, and people tend to assume that I'm some playboy, trust-fund baby with no real goals in life. Need I say more?"

"Dick, it wasn't like I didn't want to adopt you! There were legal issues-"

"Legal issues my ass! You just didn't want some dirty gypsy kid to be your son!"

"That's not true and you know it! The government of Romania wouldn't allow me to adopt you because you were technically a citizen of Romania and they felt that you belonged to them! I fought for years to get you to become my legal son, but by the time you turned 18, Romania dropped the case since you had become an adult!"

"Stop it, both of you!" Diana snapped as I starred at Bruce with a mixture of emotions. I wanted to cry and scream at him, but I was stuck with just a shocked expression instead.

"Now, it looks like this problem between you two is way deeper than I imagined. We'll have to discuss this another time. For now, try not to kill each other and behave. We'll talk on Friday. Your homework will be to write a letter to the other person about what you really feel and then you'll read it out loud to each other on Friday." Diana instructed as she stood up and left us alone in the sitting room.

An awkward silence fell between us as we stayed seated, waiting for the other person to make a move first. I could hear Bruce sighing heavily before shifting in his armchair. Looking up from the floor, I noticed that he was staring at me.

"Did you really feel like I didn't want you as my son?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah...I mean I tried to ignore the constant questions from your party guests, but as I got older I felt like it was the truth. I mean, lately, no one has really been there for me and with this whole job issue thing, I felt...alone. It sucked, majorly, until Jason came over to get me." I whispered as he nodded.

"I'm sorry..."

"It's ok."

"No, it's not."

"Let's pretend that it is so I don't start crying."

"Why would you cry now?"

"Cuz you just told me the real reason why I wasn't adopted and I'm happy that you tried everything to do so legally."

"Dick."

"No, stop. Not now. It's...too soon."

"Ok."

-PAGE BREAK-PAGE BREAK-

Me and my emotional self couldn't prevent me from crying for much longer, and it happened at the wrong time! Jason and I were in the middle of love making, when I suddenly started crying. Poor Jason thought he had hurt me somehow and stopped right away. I had told him to keep going, but the way it sounded from my sad excuse of a confident voice told Jason to stop everything and hold me. He kept asking what was wrong and if it was because of Bruce, which he threatened to go punch Bruce in the throat from making me cry again.

"Jason...it's nothing bad on Bruce's end...I'm just happy." I tried to explain as I wiped away my tears.

"Your definition of happy is fucked up, Dickie. Happy people don't express their happiness by crying in the middle of sex!" Jason informed me as I laughed/cried. God, I'm a mess.

"I know that, Jay, but today, in therapy, I found out why Bruce didn't adopt me." I said as Jason cocked his head to the side.

"Because Bruce is an ass and he didn't want to hurt my feelings by adopting you only so he tried to keep it even by not adopting you?" Jason guessed as I snorted.

"Not even close. The Romanian government wouldn't allow him to adopt me because I was technically a citizen of Romania and I technically belonged to the government's orphanage. It wasn't cuz Bruce didn't like me or didn't want to; he just couldn't get passed the legal country issues. That's why I'm crying happy tears. I thought Bruce didn't want me cuz of being a gypsy and just some kid from the circus without any manners." I chuckled as Jason shook his head.

"You thought he didn't want you? Wow...you're dumb. Do you not remember the shrine that was bestowed to your bedroom a couple days ago?! Bruce is obsessed with you. You're the Golden Boy; the first Robin, Hell the best Robin out of all of us! I hate to say this, but Bruce loves you like his own son, something I never got to experience from him." Jason rambled.

"Aw, Jaybird, Bruce loves you too."

"No he doesn't...why do you think I hide my guns?! He'll take them away and turn me into some goody-two-shoes hero like you! I'm a man and a man has his guns!"

"Now, you're just going off tangent."

"Who interrupted sex again?"

"Shut up! I'm not mentally sound!"

"Neither am I or anyone else in this house...except Alfred cuz he's cool."

"Again, we're off topic."

"Whatever...are you done crying? Can we go back to do what we were doing just a couple minutes ago?"

"Yes, Jason, we can go back."

"Good, cuz I got blue balls now since you made me stop half way and it hurts. Be prepared for punishment!"

"I'm so scared."

"You can at least play along."


	7. Disclaimer Update

This is a disclaimer update.

For those of you who do not like boy x boy love, even if the characters in the real story are straight as pencils; please do not give me a hateful review. I have warned you before and it says so right in the summary "Dick x Jason" which should be an indicator that this is a yaoi Fanfic. I will delete any and all reviews that imply hateful content. I have an audience who appreciates my work for what it is and I would like to keep it that way for them. If there are any problems, message me privately and we will talk from there.

In other news, a new chapter will be posted up here within a day or two, so that all of my followers, who have been patient with me and my bad habit of being on hiatus, will be happy. Bring out the tissues!


	8. Chapter 6

*WARNING: BE PREPARED FOR FEELS*

Friday had come faster than I had predicted as I sat down on the armchair across from Bruce. Diana had decided to have us facing each other when we read our letters out loud so we would be talking at each other and not away from each other. I was nervous, extremely nervous to the point where I thought I was going to either throw up or have an anxiety attack. My letter was long, like three pages worth, and it looked like Bruce's was about the same. Biting my lip, I waited for Diana to start us off with whatever she had to say.

"I see you both wrote your letters like I had asked. That's good. Who wants to go first?" she asked as I looked up to Bruce.

"I will." Bruce said as Diana nodded her head and sat back into the couch.

"Dick,

I'm sorry for everything that I have ever done to you. From lying about Zucco to criticizing you about...well everything. I just wanted to keep you safe. Sometimes, I think you're that little boy who thought that Batman was the coolest superhero in the entire Justice League and wanted to be Batman when you grew older. But...it seems like everything I did only caused you pain.

We've had our fights. Lots of them...in the past, but this last one really got to me. I had thought I had lost you for good. No phone calls, emails, text messages, anything from you. I had thought you had died, but I knew you didn't when I saw the Blüdhaven papers with your Nightwing image all over them. I knew you were still mad at me, and you have every right to be so. I told you a lie just so you could sleep at night and that was wrong of me. But I missed you. Everyone missed you, a lot.

When I had to leave for Hong Kong, I wasn't sure whether or not you'd take the chance to go and live at the Manor again. I was pretty sure you were going to ignore me and not even bother with Gotham, but Alfred called me when you were in bed that you had come home. I can't tell you how happy I was to hear that. I was convinced you were gone for good. I even ended my trip early just to see you, but when I came home, I knew something was wrong. You looked ill, stressed, and you had blacked out once you caught a glimpse of me. I thought it was my fault you were like that, but now that I found out you had lost your job due to insane circumstances, I knew it wasn't all my fault. Yet I still blamed myself as I waited for you to wake up that night, but ended up leaving due to an argument with Jason.

I know we don't talk much about feelings, but when you had confessed the other day to believing that I didn't adopt you because I didn't want you, I had felt hurt. I knew I was to blame for not talking about it with you, but I wanted it to be a surprise when I got the legal adoption papers. But that day never came and I completely missed out on the opportunity when you were still young to explain to you what I was doing. Adopted or not, you're still my son, whether you like it or not. You were my first Robin and you're a precious person in my life. I don't say this often but I love you Dick. Please...forgive me." Bruce read as he looked on the verge of tears. His hands were shaking as Diana looked over to me.

"Dick, it's your turn." She said as I looked down at my letter.

"Bruce,

Where do I begin? You've always been on my ass since I was a kid and I don't think you'll ever leave me alone. But you wouldn't be Bruce if you weren't like that. Besides, if you weren't so hard on me I'd probably be dead, and that's not fun.

The whole adoption thing had me going on for years, but I never brought it up in case my suspicions were true. Turns out I was wrong and I was happy that I was wrong. Jason wasn't happy that I was crying, but he understood after I had to explain it to him. I guess I listened and believed too many of those wealthy Gotham elites too much as a kid. They were always talking about me, and somehow you knew when it began to hurt my feelings to kick them out of the party. Always protecting me...always...

I guess that's where my first problem began. I wanted to stand up and be my own person, but you were constantly in Daddy Bat Mode and prevented me from doing so until I was 16. I had quit being Robin and became Nightwing. I moved in with the Titans for a while and kept going to Gotham High without anyone knowing that I wasn't living in the Manor anymore. Then you got Jason and I was jealous at first but soon dropped it since you had someone else to boss around. We fought again because of college and I ended up doing an online college because I was fed up with you. After Jason died, I knew you were depressed and blamed yourself, so I had to make sure you wouldn't do anything stupid and came back to live in the Manor with you. Tim came eventually and we were all happy. Jason even came back, although not as tamed as he is now, and we were all one big dysfunctional family again. Until I started talking about becoming a cop. You don't like cops and I knew you'd be pissed but I wanted to venture out on my own. But you didn't stop me when I applied for Blüdhaven's police department.

Then came Damian. I love the kid to death but he was a handful. Around that time, you left us and I knew Damian needed Batman so I took it up. It was hard and all the villains knew it was me under the cowl. No one can ever replace you as Batman. But I toughed it out and trained Damian while juggling Tim's school issues and Jason's drinking problems. Somehow I was able to keep my cop job while living in Gotham and being Batman at night. And then one day you came back. I thought you would have been proud of me for taking up your mantel so Gotham wouldn't flip shit about no Batman in the sky, but you weren't happy. You thought I was too soft on Damian. You didn't like Jason living with us since his anti-hero business wasn't good to keep around for long. You were mad that Tim was too busy doing homework to spend time training because I allowed him to go into the gifted program. We fought over stupid things for a while but it didn't end so well.

I had thought for the longest time that Tony Zucco was long dead and I would be ok, but when that news report came on, I was so angry. I knew you did it to help me sleep at night when I was little, but I could have been told later; not 22 years later. I was just mad that you kept something like that a secret from me. I had had enough with you and I just wanted to get out...so I did. I didn't bother contacting you because I knew we would end up fighting again so I ignored you. At first, I missed the Manor and being with everyone, but I eventually got used to being alone and I was able to focus on my cop job.

The night I had gotten your message to come back to Gotham until you returned from Hong Kong was a couple days after I had gotten fired from my job. To make this short, a little boy, who was mentally retarded, accidently killed his entire family because he was playing cops and robbers with his sister and used his dad's loaded gun as a toy. My boss told me to shoot the kid, since he still had the gun in his hands, but I refused. Then I watched as my boss shot the kid for me before he chewed me out and fired me on the spot.

I'm still going through the mental healing process from that...my anxiety has been through the roof lately and it's been making me sick. You know Alfred's not happy because he's been trying to get me to eat at every moment possible because of how much weight I lost. I might have to see a professional about that...

The day you came home...I was shocked and truthfully all I wanted to do was hide. A migraine mixed with an anxiety attack caused me to black out; not high blood pressure that Alfred told you. I didn't know what to say to you or how you would react with me still in the Manor. I didn't want to fight with you anymore...I don't like fighting with you. You are my second father and to end up fighting you hurt a lot.

I have a lot more personal issues that I have recently been experiencing, like how I can't remember what my parents' voices sounded like anymore or what they looked like without looking at a picture. That scares me to no end. I'm lucky to have a few pictures with them, but I can't hear their voices anymore; only their screams when they died. Is that supposed to be normal? I know asking you would do me good since you've been in the same situation as I was in, but at that moment we weren't speaking. I have a bad habit about dwelling on things like that and somehow you were always able to keep my head on straight, but it was the first time I had to do it alone. You even corrected my rambling, which isn't working out so well in the letter. My thoughts are all over the place.

I guess what I really want to say to you is that I'm sorry for being an ass and for hurting your feelings. I still love you and I still see you as my dad, even though we might not get along all the time. I just want to work things out now and go back to the way things used to be. I missed having a conversation with you that didn't end badly." I read as Bruce and I stared at each other in silence.

"Good job, both of you. I know it must have been hard to do something like that. Why don't we end it here for today? I'll see you two in a week." Diana suggested as we nodded our heads. I stood up to leave when Bruce caught my arm and pulled me into a hug when Diana wasn't looking. It felt nice and warm as I hugged him back, making sure Diana was busy talking to Alfred. Once we let go, Diana turned to us to wave goodbye before she left the Manor.


End file.
